Category Archives: Table Saw Safety

Before I get into the topic of this post, I would like to preface it by saying that I have been working with and around machinery for most of my adult life. That list includes construction equipment, printing presses, pipe benders, wire pulling machines, fork lifts and earth movers. Of course this list also includes power tools for woodworking. All of the equipment I listed could and can seriously injure or even kill.

Lately, while woodworking, I have been exclusively using hand tools. This has not been a philosophical decision. The projects I have been working on are generally small, and because my daughter has been with me ( I will not use a power tool with her in the vicinity), and because I could just as easily crosscut a few boards by hand, I have been avoiding the table saw. But over the past weekend I broke out the table saw for the first time in quite a while, and truth be told it may be a long while before I break it out again.

Last year my father-in-law brought me some hickory and ash logs from his property in upstate Pennsylvania, so I split them into smaller pieces and set them aside to dry. When inspecting them on Saturday I deemed them dry enough to use, so I decided to further prep the wood (namely the hickory) into smaller billets to be used as handle stock for some antique farm and logging tools that I have been attempting to restore. This prep work consisted of a lot of sawing and hatchet work, and I don’t recommend it if you are working under any kind of time frame because it is a long and arduous process despite what anybody will tell you. Regardless. I ended up with four “sticks” roughly 2 ½ feet long and 2 or so inches square. I planed them down mainly to get a flat reference face (this wood will be shaped into contoured handles, so there is no need to start off with a perfectly square board), and rather than spending another hour rip sawing and cross cutting, I decided to use the table saw to get all of the wood to uniform size. That is when things got weird.

The first thing I wanted to do was cross cut the boards to uniform width. I have an Osborne EB-3 miter gauge, which I feel is a top of the line product, and it has never given me any real trouble. It is accurate, and safe, and I feel comfortable using it. The blade on the saw is new and sharp. So I set the blade height, and decided on an off-cut of around 2 inches just to be sure to remove any funky end wood. So I began a process I have completed thousands of times…My first off cut shot across my garage like a rifle shot. I turned off the saw, checked the blade height-which was right where it is supposed to be-and got back to work. The second off cut, which was the other side of the same board, did not shoot across the garage again, but it wanted to. Instead, it seemed to “tug” the board into the blade slightly, and I believe the only thing that kept the board from being pulled laterally any further was the fact that my miter gauge is lined with 60 grit sand paper just for the purpose of keeping the wood from shifting. At this point, I unplug the saw and check the blade-it is tight and sharp; I check the miter gauge and it is 90 degrees to the blade (not that it should have mattered in the least but I checked anyway) I even checked the voltage at the receptacle that the saw is plugged into-121 volts. So I chalked up the missile launches to the dense hickory board and began again.
The next 3 boards yielded generally the same results: flying wood, pulling boards, and overall chaos. After the boards were sawn to length I was planning on ripping them to width as well, but by then I was becoming worried. I have always had a very healthy respect for all machinery and I am always very cautious when using it, because I’ve witnessed several gory incidents as well as surviving a few near-misses myself. But this was the first time that I can ever recall being afraid to use a table saw.

At this point I decided on some more detective work. I went back to the blade, which is a brand new 40t combination blade, a Diablo from the Depot. While I don’t consider the Diablo blades anything special, I have used them in the past many times without incident. Nevertheless I doublechecked it, and found no wobble, the teeth were nice and sharp, and as I said before, the height was set where I always set it, with the gullets approximately 1/8 of an inch above the cut. Hickory is a hard wood, very hard, so I decided to cross cut a piece of scrap pine to see the results, and while it did not shoot across the room or bog, something definitely did not feel quite right. So I re-checked the Hickory; there were no wild grain patterns or large checks, and while the boards likely have more moisture content than a kiln dried board you may find in a lumber yard or home center, they were definitely not openly wet or even damp.

However, one area of concern did crop up, and that was the throat plate on my table saw. The plate is wider than it should be, and perhaps an offcut just a few inches long will dip, even slightly, due to lack of support, causing it to touch the revolving blade, possibly shooting it back? I have always wanted to make or purchase a zero clearance throat plate, but because I use the table saw so little I haven’t considered it much lately. So to test this theory out I cross cut a scrap board so that much of the off-cut would be supported by the table and the results were improved, though I still seemed to feel a slight tug that I had honestly never noticed before until that day.

Here’s the thing, not too long ago I came to the conclusion that I am probably going to sell my table saw. I don’t use it much, but more importantly it takes up a lot of space. At the same time a table saw can be a useful tool to have around. I know that I can work without it, but I also know that there are times it will be greatly missed, in particular on those days when I need to cut a few dozen dados. I’m not sold on the notion of “all handwork, all the time.” Once again, I have nothing against it, I just don’t have the free time for it; I woodwork for fun, not as a crusade. Yet, I haven’t really used the table saw in earnest this entire year, and we are heading into September. Either way, for the first time in my life I did not feel comfortable using a familiar tool. It’s worth the $25 investment to add a zero-clearance throat plate, but that may not be the issue, and that issue may be a problem with the saw that I cannot necessarily identify without a true expert checking it out for me.

If I add a new throat plate and I still don’t notice a difference I can only see two options: sell the saw and put the money toward a band-saw, or sell the saw and put the money towards a Sawstop Saw. For the record, this is not a commercial for Sawstop. I’ve used a Sawstop saw a handful of times and I think highly of them. I don’t know if they do any more to stop kickback on crosscuts than any other saw will, but I do know that if that kick back causes my hand to slip, or jerk, or what have you, and my hand happens to touch the blade in doing so, I have a far better chance of not sustaining a serious injury. Yet, even if I sell my saw and get top dollar for it, the money raised would still be less than half of what I need. I can get a nice bandsaw for half the cost of a Sawstop, and bandsaws, in my opinion, are a far safer option, perhaps the safest option of all when it comes to sawing wood with a motor.

When it comes down to it, I’m not a kid anymore, and I’m not a professional woodworker. Maybe my months long lay-off from the table saw has me somewhat gun shy. Maybe my reflexes aren’t what they used to be, and I have definitely had some issues with my hands and fingers, so maybe that is the problem. Whatever the case may be, I was honestly rattled this past weekend, and that is no way to woodwork, and until I figure it out, the power switch to that table saw is remaining in the “off” position.

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Just as I was about to shut down the computer, I came across what I believe is an interesting article involving Sawstop saws and the failed legislation. It seems, according to the article, that power tool manufacturers got together and shot down the proposed safety features because they felt it was just too expensive and would force cheaply made saws off the market; I think the legal term for that is collusion, but I could be wrong; I’m not a lawyer. Funny, because I’ve been saying the same thing for two years.

They even created “The Power Tool Institute”, a front organization that presented a lot of really impressive facts and figures to back up their safety claims. As you might have guessed if you have any fucking brains, the PTI came to the conclusion that flesh detecting technology is not necessary on table saws. To me, it sure looks like these corporations weren’t out for the best interests of their customers and woodworkers in general. I find it really funny that several prominent woodworking “journalists” were the first to back the “Power Tool Institute” and it’s laundry list of bullshit facts. Oh, and the “The Power Tool Institute” also claimed that they had a “joint venture” safety device that was much better than Sawstop technology and the manufacturers in the group were preparing to install it on their equipment. For the record, that was more than five years ago and I haven’t seen a single saw with this magical safety device installed.

So, if MY research and the facts I concluded from it are correct, power tool manufacturers ignored the technology and also did their best to discredit it because it just so happens that it would cut into their profit margins and force them to make higher quality equipment. Yeah, I’ve been saying this for two years and yeah, I’m absolutely correct. The shit heads at certain woodworking magazines were protecting their own candy asses by feeding their readers a complete line of bullshit. Yeah, I said it. I was right, because I wasn’t stupid enough to trust a corporation and rather put my trust in what I thought was the right thing. Amazing how that works, because there were and are people out there just like me who have nothing to gain from this, and like me, those were the same people vilified on the forums and in the magazines. All the little sheep woodworkers out there bought all the bullshit that they were presented because the corporations used some of the oldest reverse psychology in the book: The Government is out to get you.

How sad. How many people out there did no research on their own? How many woodworkers just bought the amateurish editorials they read in every woodworking magazine that takes advertising and decided to let the guy who wrote it do the thinking for them? How many of these freaking idiots think to this day that this legislation is some form of Communism??? And for the record, if you are going to use the word ‘Communism’ when you really should be using ‘Socialism’ you should learn the definition of both words first before you start running your mouth.

Anyway, if you were one of those people out there that let some buffoon that writes for a woodworking magazine do the thinking for you, I say ‘Congrats!’ You got what you wanted. You saved some tool companies a lot of money and assured that there will never be good, mass-market power tools ever made again. Have a nice night.

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I was a little hesitant to write this post, not because of the content, or because it’s a rant of any kind, but because of the photo I plan on attaching. Yesterday afternoon I had a table saw accident, probably the worst woodworking accident of my career. Fortunately the injury is nothing serious and doesn’t even rank in my top fifty personal injuries list. But it could have been much worse. Before I scare any women and children with a picture of me shirtless, I want you all to reserve judgement for just this once. Please keep in mind that this photo isn’t of the 25 year-old, 180lb version of myself who lifted weights and played sports and rode a bike everyday. This photo is the nearly 40 year-old, 197lb version of me who has a bad back and hasn’t lifted weights in ten years. But in an effort to be honest and show what happened I figure the photograph is somewhat of a requirement.

I’ve written several posts about the dangers of a table saw. I’ve worked on heavy machinery and electrical equipment and have used power tools for my entire adult life, I’m no prude and I accept those dangers willingly. The table saw is no exception to that list. That, for no other reason, is why I supported Sawstop Legislation. Even though flesh-detection technology wouldn’t have helped me much yesterday, the way I look at it table saws can use all of the safety measures we can get on them. Yesterday afternoon I was doing everything correctly for the most part. The saw blade was a hair too high probably. I was sawing a piece of 1/4″ thick plywood. The blade was sticking out of the table probably around 1 1/4″. I generally follow the rule of having the blade extend above the piece being sawed so the gullets of the blade are just higher than the board. I did not have the guard on. I was using the rip fence and a push stick, more to keep the thin stock from rising rather than pushing it through the cut. The blade is razor sharp, actually brand new and just installed, I was wearing safety glasses and my body was to the right of the blade, not behind it. I fed the board through at a normal rate of feed when I hit a knot in the plywood which also must have had a void in it because the piece exploded off of the sheet and literally flung sideways into my stomach. Had it hit me in the ribs, and had it been a heavier/thicker board my injury would have been much worse. With that being said, I don’t think a heavier board would have “exploded” the way it did. My conclusion is that it was simply a junk piece of plywood. If anything that was my biggest mistake, the terrible sheet of plywood I was using.

When it happened I cursed a little, checked myself to make sure everything was still there, and got back to work. All in all I like to call it an accident. Accidents happen, all the time. It can be just as dangerous to walk down the street, or get into a car, or play a game of pickup basketball than it can be woodworking. And that is why I still take so much offense to those who feel the need to call people stupid when they’ve had serious table saw injuries. I would bet that there are woodworking injuries that are nothing more than the result of carelessness, and I would also bet that some woodworking injuries are just dumb luck. So to make a general statement that if you get hurt woodworking you must be stupid is just about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, and shows a lack of experience in any type of machinery use. The worst thing about it is that I’ve seen more than my fair share of woodworking writers make that same statement, although they managed to say it without directly saying it. Not to get pissy, but if you want to call me stupid, wait til we’re face to face before you do it. And I don’t mean anybody who subscribes to this blog, that comment has a specific audience in mind.

So last night, roughly 10 hours after the accident happened, I took a photo of it. The photo doesn’t give you the whole experience but you at least get an idea. The bruise widened and is now several different, but lovely colors. So here it is. I don’t want to hide behind my mistakes, or accidents, so I think it’s best to just show them and learn from them. If anything else, I hope it makes people aware of just how careful you need to be when operating a table saw.